


Easy Way Out

by Darkhymns



Category: Tales of Symphonia
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Character Study, Conversations, Gen, Missing Scene, background Lloyd/Colette - Freeform, implied Zelos/Colette and Lloyd/Zelos if you look hard enough, mostly vague feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:40:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27644929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkhymns/pseuds/Darkhymns
Summary: At Altessa's house, Zelos sets things in motion for Yuan's meeting with Lloyd. But he didn't account for someone else waking up.He didn't think he'd have to make a choice.
Relationships: Colette Brunel & Zelos Wilder
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16





	Easy Way Out

Zelos always avoided having dinners by himself nowadays.

It all starts with an invitation to a party, or a graceful compliment he’d drop onto a woman’s lap, which would always get him something. He needed to make such outings extravagant, make them loud, enough so that he couldn’t hear himself think! Laughter and drink, a hand on his thigh, and so what if at such dinners he barely ever ate anyway? At least during these times, he didn’t have to think about eating alone.

And always when he was young, he’d have plenty of food at the table, served up by waiters and maids, vegetables swimming in broth, or cheesecake as soft as clouds, but he would eat it alone. His mother always hid in her room during such evenings. She would refuse to come to the door.

Wallowing in one’s own misery was a trait you inherit, after all.

“Since when do you cook anyway?” Sheena had asked him. She was the only one to go over to Zelos in the kitchen, hearing the soup simmer in its clay pot. He eyes widened as he even chopped up the carrots expertly. “Did making food for that gnome really inspire you now? Or that crazy wonderchef?”

“Babe, you know I’ve always been an up-and-coming star in the cooking world!” He flipped the chopping knife in the air, the firelight glinting off its blade before he caught it by the handle expertly. “Ain’t my fault you’re jealous.”

Sheena glared, as she always did, as she always will whenever he acted like this. But why ruin such a good streak now? And after all, wasn’t he such a good friend to be making all this food for everyone when they worried over Colette?

Colette, collapsed in a spare room, Altessa working the materials they had gathered to stop the spread of that crystal, crawling over her skin like translucent leeches. Any more delays and it would have reached into her heart, freezing her beats in place, until she was as silent as the stones in that mine.

What a good thing he was doing, that he was _providing_ when he helped set up the tables to the confused eyes of Raine, and the hungrier ones of Genis. The soup is filled to the brim with spices and seasonings, so the taste would be strong. But who wanted weak-tasting food anyway?

Lloyd was barely paying any attention. The guy paced and paced until he was just about to pace a hole in the ground itself. He could never just sit back and take it easy, could he? Colette would be fine, would she not? It wasn’t like her heart had stopped then and there.

“Hey bud, you’re not doing yourself any favors being all high-strung like that.” Zelos leaned against one of the dining tables, filled with so much food that he had clearly outdone himself. Not every piece of it would have the necessary ingredient of course, but why should one spread themselves thin like that? Already Genis was chowing down on a piece of loaf that he had dunked into the soup, while Presea nibbled at a carrot, picking away a few things from her spoon.

“I can’t eat at a time like this.” Lloyd’s voice was tight, and rough, and maybe if he had let himself, he’d probably cry. Anytime it came to Colette, Lloyd would always act like this. Always with Colette.

“Come onnn~ Have a potato at least. Good nutrition! And it’s good luck too. Got that from one of my hunnies.”

“Argh, shut it.” Lloyd turned away, facing the door to the room where Colette was in. It was quiet in there, as it was in here, despite some nervous munching.

“Aw, won’t even eat for your best bud, huh?” And with Lloyd, he could be a little more open, a little more daring as he hugged him from behind, and practically yelling in his ear. “Don’t starve yourself!”

“Zelos, I think that is quite enough,” spoke Regal. A thread of discontent. Huh. Mr. President really would try to upend him like that.

Something was shaking, and he couldn’t see Lloyd’s face this way, but the body he was holding felt ready to burst. Before another word, Lloyd broke out of his hold easily, stepping away. He didn’t say anything

He saw a fist clenched. Oh. Talk about a close call.

But he just didn’t like eating alone.

* * *

.

.

.

“You could eat a little more, hunny,” Zelos had once said, walking out to Colette who sat at a log by her lonesome. It was a rare occasion to find her without Lloyd by her side. But monsters kept straggling around their resting place for the night, and he, along with Sheena and Regal, had gone away to try and clear them out for now.

Zelos would have gone, but it had been a long and boring day of walking, and he’d always opt to stay behind in camp if at least one cute girl was present. _Not like they asked me to come anyway._

“Ah, I know… I’m just a little tired.” Colette stirred the beef and mushroom stew that Genis had made for everyone, the contents just half-filling the bowl. “Oh! I can still eat though, I promise.”

Zelos raised an eyebrow before sitting easily by her side. “Hey, if you hate Genis’ cooking, you can tell me. Puts a little too much paprika in it for my tastes.”

“Oh, no no, that’s not it! I love Genis’ cooking…”

“Haha, angel, you gotta learn when I’m messing with ya.” He winked at her, face leaning into his hand as he gazed at her, noting the way the campfire shone off her hair. “But I guess you haven’t known me for that long.”

She smiled back, and though there was the urge to tell her how cute it fit her, he stayed quiet, seeing the words build up in her eyes. Did she have so much she wanted to say from when she had been a quiet doll, wings trailing behind her at all times? It was almost strange to Zelos, to now see her more animated, hiding away that curse of the Chosen within.

“It’s just…a lot.” Colette kept pushing the spoon around in her bowl, moving the vegetables through the broth like small ships. “Not the food, I mean. Just, what has happened. It’s almost too overwhelming to stay hungry.”

“Hm, is that it?” Zelos leaned back, eyes turned towards the horizon. “Or is it because Lloyd isn’t here with you right now?”

Colette didn’t answer right away, but she nearly dropped her bowl in response. Zelos quickly reached out, grabbing it from beneath to hand back to her.

“I bet you he’ll be back before you know it,” he said, bringing the bowl up to her chin. “Then you two can go back to feeding each other like you used to!~”

It was good he held it, because Colette would have dropped the bowl right after again. “Ah! That’s not…”

“What, you guys _haven’t_ done that? Could have fooled me with the way Lloyd talked about you all the time.”

Even in Colette’s small fumbles, he saw the smile tugging at her lips. And he was right, she looked so nice when she smiled, when it came straight from her heart, unfettered by whatever worries that still tried to weigh her down.

She carefully took the bowl back, fingers steady, steadier maybe then she needed them to be. “It’s just, I’m nervous when he’s not around. Ever since we were kids. …It’s a little silly, isn’t it?”

Zelos barely knew about Lloyd, besides how loud he can be, and how dense he was about certain things too. And it was then he realized, of course Colette would be comfortable around someone like that. “Sorry, angel. Gotta settle for me in the meantime.”

It was a joke, of course. For the most part. But Colette looked at him in all seriousness. “Huh? But, I’m happy you’re here too. You’ve been ready to help us right away…and you’re also very kind. You’re a lot like Lloyd!”

…Okay, Colette must have been stuck longer in her angel state than Zelos had thought. But maybe the comment dug through him, like he had just drank some nice, warm coffee to brighten up his morning. A rarity, for someone who didn’t usually get up past noon. “You wound me, Colette! To compare me to him? As if I’d be as fashionably challenged as he is!”

“Oh, you don’t think Lloyd looks cool?”

 _Maybe a little bit._ “No way! But do tell how you think your Lloyd is oh so cool.”

Not as nervous, because Colette is looking as radiant as Lloyd does, when he’s weirdly excited about something. But unlike Lloyd, she doesn’t look at him as if he’s got a few screws loose. “I also wanted to apologize to you.”

“Eh? What for?” Zelos shook his head. “If it’s not calling me the Great Zelos, I forgive you. I’ll let you get to witness my greatness first!”

“Ah, not that. It’s for throwing you around earlier… I’m sorry! I wouldn’t have done that if I had been myself.”

The mention of his near fatal catastrophe against the pavement nearly made Zelos fall right off the log. “You remember that?!”

She laughed then, and it was light and warm, like the campfire before them. “Yeah… and you reacted really quickly!”

“When it comes to this,” Zelos waved a hand around his face, “I have to pick my priorities. Us Chosens gotta look the part, don’t we?”

And as Colette visibly relaxed, she had unconsciously taken a sip from her spoon, eating the stew as if she hadn’t eaten in so many years.

Maybe she didn’t like eating alone, too.

* * *

.

.

. 

It was still early evening when Zelos had finished his meal.

Altessa’s home was different from most that Zelos had ever visited, even from Lloyd’s own dwarf “dad” (and wasn’t that lucky of him? To at least get a fresh start with a parent like that?). It was built deep into the mountain, the stone manipulated to make way for walls and stairs and barristers and doorways. Zelos could even see where the floor sloped once one went in further back. Maybe Altessa had planned to cut through the mountain even deeper, down where the sun couldn’t reach, but never deep enough to escape Cruxis’ claws, that was for sure.

After all, Zelos was the proof to that.

When he finished washing his plate, having taken his own to the kitchen earlier, making sure to take certain portions and the like, he kept his ears alert in this dwarven home. On most days, it was generally quiet, Altessa not one to utilize much of his craft that had gotten him here in the first place. The water splashed underneath his fingers as he dipped the plate in the sink, hearing the talk from outside, hearing it drip slow, slow, as if their words were getting stuck, dipped into molasses, buried under a steady fall of sand.

Then quiet.

Zelos just let the plate drown in the dirty water, walking back into the dining hall. The first he saw was Tabatha, a mug of the hot tea he had brewed especially for her, cupped carefully in her hands. She was seated in a chair far to the back wall, her head slightly drooped. Her braided hair fell over her right shoulder, like a waterfall of leaves in the sunshine.

But the candelight was getting dimmer, and Zelos turned to check out the rest of the room. Genis’ head was smacked headfirst into the table, poor brat, with Raine leaning on her staff, eyes shut but mouth parted. She leaned enough for her head to slightly lay on Genis, brother and sister barely ever apart. (What a concept, not like he’d never know, not like he deserved to know). Their plates were half-eaten, probably sharing with one another, like how Mithos would say how his own sister would share her food with him.

It was stupid to think of things like that. _Must be out of touch_ , he thought. Other familiar faces, Regal seated on the floor, cuffed hands laid over his knees; Presea also at the table, with a bowl of the tepid carrot soup in her lap, filled with a few spices he said he had gotten especially from Ozette. (Who knows? It might even be true). He couldn’t see the dwarf, but he could hear Altessa’s snoring, and how it rumbled through the walls. Zelos had been confident Tabatha would have given him some of the tea as well, the dwarf losing most of his gruffness with her.

Further in the corner, he saw Sheena, seated at her own chair, eyes shut tight, but occasionally making sounds as she dreamed, as she twitched. The bells at her wrist only sung once or twice. If Corrine had still been here, then Sheena would have been the trickiest to deceive. Maybe a well-placed hand on her back, a grin that got her bristling, leading her away from the home while everyone else was put into their own deep and peaceful slumber.

How weird to be grateful that he didn’t have to lie any more to her than he already did.

The light from the candles above was dim, ready to be snuffed out. Zelos craned his head to watch, watching as the wick moved down to nothing, the flames leaving the room and all the rest (his friends?) to be blanketed in shadow. He settled into that darkness, moving over to a sofa placed to the right side and lounged right into it, waiting.

Lloyd was in his room, having gone to sleep earlier. And so was Colette. No one awake, just himself and his own thoughts, circling in his head, over and over, settling into the dark.

 _Are you capable of doing this?_ went the thought in his head, circling, waiting, sharp eyes that echoed the same disdain that he had long grown used to, like a well-worn coat. _Lloyd can’t know at all._

If he hadn’t been capable, then why would he bother? Winning side and all that. So of course he had agreed. _Just trust me,_ he had said, and those same eyes had hardened like ice. But what else did that guy even expect?

Maybe hours pass by, or just minutes – but he hears Yuan’s grand entrance, hears the marching of armor just outside. Sound travels easier out here in this wasteland of dirt and rock and dust that lodged itself into his lungs. The nights always yawned great silence, with just the rushing of wind and insects. Masking sound was impossible, but a deep sleep, brought on by chemical agents that Meltokio’s researchers would never know were missing, helped with that particular little wrinkle anyway.

Next was Lloyd’s pounding footsteps; they were plodding, and Zelos could hear them try to be quick, as if the kid was held down by ropes. With the effect of drugs, and whatever else Yuan had done to him, he might as well be. A miracle really, even as Lloyd must have been brought awake by fear and adrenaline setting fire to his veins. Zelos was surprised Lloyd hadn’t fallen on his face after just a few steps. But then, that was usually Colette’s forte, wasn’t it?

The kid in red, still so bright even in the dark. Only Zelos’ own hair was a match, but he betted that Lloyd wouldn’t notice him at all. Not that he was exactly hiding. Even Lloyd would be able to spot him, right? That idiot seemed to find things that Zelos thought he had buried so well, as if he just done a shit job of deception.

Maybe it was like one of those unstoppable force meets an immovable object sort of deal; how blind and optimistic stupidity could unearth whatever skeletons Zelos just threw around in his closet, haphazard as they were.

Lloyd was still struggling to walk normally, finally leaving his room to enter the main area. His eyes were directed towards the front door, a panicked pace to his breathing. He looked around, looked around, saw the others asleep, back straightening just a bit at the shock of it. And he only needed to turn just a little, just a bit, _if he could just look_ , until-

Lloyd went back to the door, opened it and rushed through. Gone away into the dark outside.

Zelos just smiled.

Muffled voices through the wood, and he could just imagine Yuan speaking in that tone, something that echoed Mithos if the so-called Renegade was ever even aware of it. But those with holier-than-thou attitudes never realized just how cookie-cutter they really were, just how interchangeable, how replaceable. Bastards like that were never in short supply.

Maybe Lloyd realized that too, but not like Zelos could say for sure. If he closed his eyes, he’d try to picture that bud of his, adamant and demanding whatever was going on. Still trying to fight away the sleep from Zelos’ food, which would keep carrying him down and down if he let it.

If Lloyd had just eaten more, had eaten that damn potato like he’d asked _(I was looking out for you, you know),_ he’d probably still be sleeping. Yuan would have given up – or just stabbed Lloyd in the chest in aggravation. Sometimes it was hard to tell with him.

Then Zelos sat up, listening. Wait… Were those other footsteps?

He had been sure he had fed everyone, even the dwarf who looked like he hadn’t munched on anything but boulders for the last decade.

Then a voice, soft and too kind. “…Is anyone here?”

_Crap, did I really forget about little miss angel?_

Not the first time Zelos had been frustrated with himself, but seriously, what an oversight. The cure must have worked fast, and Colette recovering enough to not only get up from her bed, but even call out? She had collapsed so suddenly, so deeply. Had she just brushed all that aside like nothing?

From the bedroom side of the home, he heard her soft footfalls. So soft and light, she must have been using her wings to barely make any sound at all. But no, once she came into view, no span of pink and violet. The room stayed dark and muted, her hair’s color snuffed out like the candlelight.

Immediately, she turned to him. Immediately, she noticed. “Zelos?” she called. Her eyes took in so much more in a short time. “What happened? Why is everyone…”

Well, this was a problem, wasn’t it?

Zelos definitely had the opportunity to, well, _not be here._ But even someone like him could screw up his own screw ups. Takes talent, honestly. Colette stood alone within the dark, the bodies of her comatose friends laying on tables, the chairs, and even on the floor. The moonlight streamed out from the window, giving the shine back to her hair, but only by a bit. Still, she stood within blackness.

“Zelos?” she called to him again. He couldn’t hide from her very well apparently.

“Angelcakes! Already feeling better?” Zelos stood up, making a show of it, stretching out his legs to leap onto the floor. Tangles of red fell over his face, only to be pushed away with the palm of his hand. Performative. Expected. “But you know, cute girls like you need their sleep.”

There were times he caught a sense of unease from Colette – just a small one, a notice that runs through her eyes just slightly, like a sudden small wave that pushed through the gentle current in a river. It came from when he would dole out his little nicknames for her, or when he brushed a question of hers aside. Even in her gentleness, she knew what he really was, didn’t she? Little miss angel was a worldly person despite having grown up in the backwater countryside.

And it was there now, that ripple, disturbing the rhythm, the placidity. And she knew- “Hey, Zelos,” she said quietly, placing her hands together. “It’s okay if you need to cry, you know.”

So kind was she, to cut through his chest with her words so cruelly.

Zelos admitted he needed a moment to recover (smile back on, head raised, edging his eyes away so that one couldn’t look deep, not yet), and once he did, he just shrugged. “Gotta admit, not the kind of talk I was expecting, even from you.” He winked. “But I think I’ll pass on that suggestion.”

Colette looked back to the room, towards the dining table where food was still placed around, where fruit bowls of apples and pears stayed untouched, where the pot of broth stew stood, its contents lukewarm, where her friends rested upon the wood of the table, their snores so gentle.

“It just looked like you needed to,” she said, turning back to him. “You seemed so sad just now.”

An easy grin, to cut through the dark. “Colette, hunny, maybe… you need to know your priorities a bit more.” Even she wouldn’t just ditch away her friends like this for concern about him, right? He’s not worth that. Lloyd could tell her.

Colette walked towards him, taking careful steps, quiet steps, as if she didn’t want to wake the others? Why wouldn’t she? It didn’t make sense to him. “Sorry, maybe I don’t understand. Do you want to talk about it?” She looked again to the others, careful to avoid Regal’s outstretched legs, her natural clumsiness seeming to have disappeared. “I’m happy to listen.”

This was weird, even for Colette. Zelos blinked, then turned away. “Angel, you really can’t be this naïve.” Eyes slid back to her, just a bit. “I know you’re not.”

Colette stopped just a few feet before him. He couldn’t help his wandering eyes – nothing dirty, of course not – checking for any patch of crystal. But her hands were free of it, along with the nape of her neck. In the darkness that he knew, he could see the edges of the rune crest, implanted just over the necklace Lloyd had made for her.

“I’ve been asleep for a while… It’s possible I just missed something. Also…” Another careful glance around the room. One of Presea’s ponytails nearly drooping into her soup, Sheena still dreaming uneasily, her face rarely showing peace. “No one’s hurt. Not that I see.” Her smile up at him looked secure, sincere. “You don’t want to hurt them.”

That’s not something she can just know. But she does, so easily. Suddenly, crying was all too tempting to try. He’s just not used to such a smile.

With a well-placed laugh, the kind that Sheena had once called creepy and boy, was she right about that, for even in his ears, it slid around like something that was meant to slink into the dark, he then stretched out his arms. He faced Colette, folding those arms behind his head, as nonchalant as they come.

“Maybe you’re right, Colette.” He tried to make out that necklace she wore in the adjusted dark. “But enough about me. You all better now?”

Colette blinked. Even in her own quirky ways, she hadn’t seen that coming from him. Poor little angel, never thinking of herself first in anything. “Um, yes! I don’t… feel that pain anymore.” He saw her hand reach up to the necklace, fingers brushing against the chain, against the shape of the stone set in its clasp. “I know how lucky I am.”

In the dark outside, he could hear voices. So could Colette, turning her head towards the door.

_Why don’t you just go and leave me, like you want to?_

But he didn’t say that, not exactly anyway. A small smirk that the dark hid, holding back that famous creepy laugh of his. “So go on,” Zelos prodded, smiling still, letting her turn back to him. “Why don’t you tell me why you came out here in the first place.”

That unease, but again, just a little one. Colette’s grip on the necklace went tighter. “I heard Lloyd.”

Of course.

Zelos sighed, long and over-dramatic. It was the same mock sigh he’d do after whining about walking the roads for hours on end, getting an irritated look from Raine, or a grumble from Genis. Not his fault that it’s a talent.

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. That trick can still be plenty useful at least.”

“Ah, yeah! And it’s not painful anymore.” Colette tilted her head, looked just past her left shoulder.

Stall. At least for a little bit.

“Didn’t think to check his room?” he asked, tone as nonchalant as they came. Maybe sweet, innocent Colette might doubt herself on that, if he were lucky.

“I did… but he’s not there.” She finally let go of the necklace then, clasping her hands tightly. “I hear him. He’s upset. Can’t you tell?”

Pause. Zelos smiled.

“…Now, how would I know that?” His own crystal was burning, his back stinging from past attempts. Maybe the wings hurt more when your guilt was just too heavy. ( _Why should I feel guilty?_ )

Colette blinked, and the confusion there was genuine. Maybe she’s a practiced liar, but Zelos can pick out those little tells from others. Some wore their lies so well, not caring if they were caught in the act. But with Colette…

It wasn’t that. Instead, she saw him. The same look of worry when she walked out and found him standing among unconscious bodies.

“Because you care about Lloyd, too,” she said, answering him so easily and without a hiccup. At first, Zelos didn’t even know how to answer.

And after, he still didn’t.

“I hear him… He’s outside. There’s something wrong.” Colette looked at Zelos, but gave another thoughtful glance to the room around her; to Tabatha who still sat, body so still if not for the brief intake of breath that could be heard, in comparison to Altessa’s rough snores from further away. “I need to go to him. Will you come with me?”

And maybe, for Zelos

it wasn’t

what he expected at all.

The pause stretched between them, and Colette was still standing, looking at him, _at him._ The strength of her gaze was overwhelming, and it was the kind of gaze that Zelos’ instinct was telling him to run away from. Because if someone looks at him long enough, just enough? They would see him, for what he really was.

A coward that wants to win, that wants to just have something work out for once. A coward that can’t take the fact that maybe anything Lloyd had ever said to him would literally mean nothing but ash.

He’d never been good enough, and even as Colette looked at him, that thought doesn’t go away. Maybe it just makes it worse.

But back then, at the campfire, she had seen him too. And she hadn’t turned away then.

“Zelos?”

Colette called out, and it seemed to pluck him out from something so dark that he couldn’t understand where he was for a moment. But still; easy smile, easy shrug. He stepped back just oh so slightly.

“Need the Great Zelos to accompany you, is that it?” He slides into his voice like a weathered jacket. Its seen so much use, and he was getting bored with it, but why let go of something that just works? “You know I don’t typically leave a gorgeous fan like you hanging!”

He’s almost guilty for her smile then. But, ah, it faltered on her face. He was wrong about her being naïve, but she was always so surprising. “But… you don’t want to?”

A nod. “Gonna pass on this.” A flick towards Altessa’s door. More noises, almost like a scuffle, and he knows little angel can hear it as well. She won’t stay this patient for long. “Not my place.”

He still remembered when Lloyd was gonna shove him back, fists clenched. He lost that chance long ago.

“But…you always have a place with us,” Colette said. “We’re your friends.”

How could someone genuinely believe that? How could she see still look at him, standing among everyone knocked out, and see an actual person there?

He could never be like that. The thought made his chest feel like it was about to cave in.

Before either could say anything then, there was a scream. It traveled through that door all too easily. But everyone stayed asleep, stuck in their little dreamlands that Zelos had led them to, only to leave them stranded.

Only he and Colette had heard. But you didn’t even need some sharpened angel senses to know how much that sound could pierce right through.

He saw Colette’s foot move, her boot sliding across the floor just a bit. Then stop. Because she was looking back at him again. Always at him.

“We can both go to him,” she said, and in her voice, she sounded so desperate suddenly. “Zelos?”

The thought of someone seeing him like this just only made him want to hide, hide even more in the dark. And maybe he was like Lloyd in some ways like she once said; stubborn as hell, even in his misery.

“Just go to your Lloyd,” he said, hating how it sounded like he was giving her permission. She didn’t need that from him. Not right now.

Because the thing was, Colette eventually needed to make a choice anyway. Her hand reached for the necklace, then stopped mid-way. Still, she never broke her gaze with him, even as he could see her tremble in that brief indecision.

Still, that keyword. Brief.

“I’m sorry,” she said. People always throw around apologies like it was candy, like it was spare Gald thrown to the poor. But from her mouth, he felt that sincerity.

He couldn’t give it back. He shrugged. “You do you, Colette,” and turned away.

Even as he knew she was walking away, he could barely hear her steps. Like she was so deathly afraid to trip and mess up, that any wrong movement of hers would ruin everything. Maybe she just always felt that way, and maybe he got the sentiment as well. Except he had ruined so much that any pang of regret he felt was too meaningless, too routine.

But did that door open just yet? Why was she taking so long? Lloyd was out there, waiting to be saved like she had always wanted to be able to do, after he saved her. Because that’s what Lloyd does, putting himself out there more than any person could possibly endure, but will anyone save him when he needs it most? What was Colette _doing?_ Hurry and go to him! Zelos can’t ruin this anymore than he already had!

But she was waiting for an extra moment, and in that moment, he knew it wasn’t a choice that she had to make. She’d made hers already.

 _It’s not my place,_ he thinks again, his steps sliding across the floor, just a bit.

But maybe-

He can still make one, his and his alone.

**Author's Note:**

> This came about from thinking of the scene at Altessa's home where usually it's Colette who comes out to talk Lloyd out of his breakdown. I have only ever gotten Zelos with Colette once, and it genuinely surprised me when it happened. I just wanted to explore his mindset on what really makes him decide to go to the door, especially after drugging the entire party. Or maybe he doesn't go... But this is a game of possibilities, so pick your choice.


End file.
